of New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. 135 



seen specimens from Torres Straits in the full breeding-plu- 

 mage, in which we brought them from Ansevata ; we have 

 no doubt, however, that our birds belong to this species. 

 The description of the eggs (Ibis, 1878, p. 265) may therefore 

 be ascribed to S. placens, Gould, and S. nereis erased from 

 the catalogue of New-Caledonian birds for the present. 



Charadrius fulvus, Gm. 



Captain Legge {hi epistold) states that L. L.^s account (Ibis, 

 1878, p. 262) of C. fulvus breeding in these islands in company 

 with the preceding Tern has been received with surprise and 

 incredulity by ornithologists at home as being contrary to pro- 

 bability. We can assure our brethren of the B. O. U. that 

 the fact is strictly correct. L. L. has shot dozens of C. fulvus, 

 and is quite familiar with their appearance. He was close to 

 the old bird and young ones several times when on the island 

 where she was, and would have shot her for th6 pot but for 

 the presence of her brood. Had he known that there was 

 any thing remarkable in the fact of the bird breeding in these 

 latitudes, he would have procured both old and young "^. 



Urospizias torquata (Vig. et Horsf.). 



Urospiza torquata, nob.. Ibis, 1878, p. 251. 



The birds we have hitherto identified as belonging to this 

 species, Mr. Masters has shown us to be undoubtedly the 

 young of Accipiter haplochrous, Scl. We suspect that the full 

 adult plumage is not assumed till the third or fourth year, as 

 we have obtained birds in the young dress in full breeding- 

 (TTopyr']. The size and form of the bill and legs of the true 

 U. torquata at once separate it. It has never occurred here 

 to us ; and M. Marie, though he includes it in his list, never 

 had a specimen from hence. The (■^) being omitted before its 

 name in his list, it may therefore be expunged till further 

 notice. 



[Mr. Gurney, on examining the specimens, indorses Mr. 

 Layard^s impression that those from New Caledonia are im- 

 mature U. haplochroa, and that the individual from the 

 Loyalty Islands is probably U. torquata. 



* I confess I was equally ignorant ! — E. L. L, 



